MANILA (Reuters) - From the airconditioned supermarkets of
Tokyo to the open-air stalls of Manila reactions across Asia to
record leaps in the price of rice vary from fear and
frustration to a nonplussed shrug of the shoulders.

Fried, boiled or steamed, rice is synonymous with food in
this region but with wide disparities in national wealth and
paddy output, Asian consumers are differently affected by
prices of Thai grain hitting $1,000 a tonne.

In the Philippines, Indonesia and Bangladesh, three of the
top four world rice importers with millions of poor between
them, some people are having to scrimp on already meager
budgets and skip meals to ensure they can still feed their
families a daily helping of the cereal.

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"What can I do? Rice prices soar, we have to follow them,"
said Rudin, a 28-year-old shopper in Indonesia's capital,
Jakarta adding he was not in a position to pile up stocks
because he had limited income.

Experts say there are signs the dramatic international
price situation may improve in the months ahead as more
harvests hit markets and importers ease back on purchases.

A near tripling in the world benchmark, Thai 100 percent B
grade wide rice, was triggered after exporting nations curbed
shipments to cool domestic inflation.

Prices on most local Asian markets have not jumped as much
either because countries are self-sufficient in rice or because
importing nations only need to buy a fraction of national
demand and subsidize those purchases to poor consumers.

But local prices have still risen significantly and while
they wait for them to ease, many Asians have little choice but
to tighten their belts or queue in the tropical heat to buy
cheap government stocks of the grain.

"We have to stand on the line for up to six hours to grab a
bagful of rice. Often we go back empty handed as supplies run
out," said Mariam Begum, who works as a house maid in the
Bangladeshi capital Dhaka.

"To stand in the queue, I take half-day leave every day
from my employers and have also brought my only son out of
school to stand in another queue," said the 45-year old mother
of four.

NO PANIC

With the exception of Bangladesh, where some factory
workers went on the rampage this month, Asian consumers have
not taken to the streets to vent their frustration at the
rising cost of food and fuel.

And with rice prices starting to ease in some countries,
the hope is that the situation, which has been volatile in
parts of Africa and in Haiti, will remain calm in Asia.

"Personally, I don't see panic," said Kazuyuki Tsurumi, the
representative of the United Nation's Food and Agriculture
Organisation (FAO) in the Philippines.

The FAO has said that food riots will spread in developing
countries unless world leaders take major steps to reduce
prices.

"There's really no rice supply shortage," said Liza
Balarit, a rice retailer at a public market in Manila. "Only a
shortage of money to buy it."

In affluent countries such as South Korea and Singapore,
many people are able and willing to absorb price increases
rather than cut back on their favorite staple.

In Japan, some budget-conscious consumers are even turning
to home-grown rice, which because of various government
programs has a fairly stable price, in the face of soaring
costs for imported grains such as wheat, which is pushing up
the cost of bread, beer and noodles.

"These days I am using more rice in our meals, along with
some fish and miso soup, because bread and pasta have become
too expensive," said one Japanese housewife.

In China, a net rice exporter, some people are even unaware
that the grain has hit a record high on world markets.

"I am not going to hoard any rice, prices are very stable
here," said Mr Hu, an office worker in Beijing.

"Is the international price at a record high? I didn't even
know that."